


Question of motives

by Bl4ckHunter



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Other, Question of motives, Reality check, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24081001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bl4ckHunter/pseuds/Bl4ckHunter
Summary: One-shot story. What-if. Oliver talks Lena out of sharing her research on Harun-El with the government.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	Question of motives

**Author's Note:**

> Something I've been contemplating writing after re-watching Season 4 of Supergirl. Let's just say that Earth-1 and Earth-38 are merged into one Earth, Earth Prime. Lena is not in relationship with James here, since let's be honest, the relationship didn't make sense in the first place to begin with, since while it wasn't bad, there had been no buildup to it and it feels weird, due to James's initial attitude to Lena due to her being a Luthor. Basically, the conversation Lena had with James, is happening with Oliver and I'm trying to give the conversation a more logical flow than in the show.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.

Visiting L-Corp, Oliver was having a dinner with his former acquaintance from college, Lena Luthor, catching up.

"I'm glad that you are fine with your family and William after what happened in Slabside." Lena said.

"Yeah. William's happy to be back with me, now that Diaz is arrested." Oliver noted. "I've heard that you've been researching how to enhance humans."

Lena stared but nodded. "I'm trying to help cure diseases, make people more resistant and be sure they can defend themselves better from metahumans and aliens." Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Oliver, you know I'm not Lex. I'm not paranoid, I'm trying to help people."

"I'm not questioning your motives." Oliver assured. "I know how hard you've been trying to redeem your family's name and I understand how much your research means to you."

"But—" Lena started.

"Do you honestly trust the government?" Oliver questioned. "They tend to militarize when they see an opportunity." He cleared his throat. "I know what I am talking about. You know what Amanda Waller has done to me. And I have friends in S.T.A.R. Labs. Before the particle accelerator exploded, Harrison Wells was cooperating with General Wade Eiling. They were working on a way to explore medical enhancements for the soldiers but Eiling had a different agenda, trying to militarize their research.

And you've heard of A.R.G.U.S., haven't you?" Lena nodded. "During the five years I was gone, Amanda Waller, their former director, leveraged me into working for her, threatening to go after my family and friends, once she found out what had I been through on the island. She also recruited criminals, mercenaries, assassins and terrorists into her black ops team, planting bombs in their heads to ensure their compliance.

I am not questioning your intentions or judging you for your motives but my point is that you're working with people with agendas and agendas change. Eventually, if your research gets into the wrong hands, people will die. Power corrupts and as you have seen before, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Lena folded her arms. "Then what would you have me do, Oliver? I'm trying to just help humanity. Level the field with aliens and metahumans and for that, I need to work with Colonel Haley. I get what you're trying to say but you can't ask me to just drop my research, after how hard have I been working on it."

"Compromise where you can." Oliver said. "There need to be safeguards. I certainly don't trust people like Eiling, Waller or Haley. I've done my research on her. Have you heard what Haley did with the Morae aliens? Weaponizing aliens that could become invisible, torturing and experimenting on them."

"I see your point but it's not that simple for me." Lena said. "Even if I were to say 'no', what if they decide to confiscate my research under false pretenses and accuse me of conspiracy to get their hands on it? This way, at least I will have some level of control over my research."

"And what if they decide to misuse your research and weaponize it anyway?" Oliver pointed out. "What then? It's not like you can do anything to stop them at that point. Lena, I know people who can help you with the research and they have dealt with the likes of Colonel Haley before. You could use the incident with the Morae as your leverage against her and convince the government to not insist in taking your research on Harun-El. You want to help people? Do it on your own terms, not anyone else's if you have no semblance of control over what you can do."

Lena considered before eventually giving in. "Then in that case, I guess the government will need to wait until I am certain that my research cannot be misused and that it's in the hands of someone I can trust."

Oliver nodded as he got up. "I understand you're trying to do some good for the people but you need to be absolutely certain that you can do it on your own terms, otherwise, intentionally or not, you'll just end up doing more harm than good and you don't want that on your conscience."

Lena nodded, remembering cooperating with Rhea, not realizing that she had been deceived. "You've given me a lot to think about. Thank you."

"Anytime. I hope you'll make the right choice." Oliver shook his hand with her as he left.

**Author's Note:**

> As I have pointed out in my other one-shot where Lena had the discussion with James in "Power corrupts", while I understand Lena's motives about sharing her research on Harun-El with the government to help humanity, that felt naïve from her end and perhaps it felt a bit more like something Lex or Lillian would do, if it meant they could create an army of enhanced humans, considering what had happened with Lockwood or John Corben. Basically, it's the same issue as with the Sokovian Accords in MCU, if you consider AoS too.
> 
> And Arrowverse has shown that some governmental and military officers are, to put it mildly, corrupt crooks.
> 
> Plus, Oliver has had his fair share of dealings with corrupt governmental idiots.
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed this one-shot.
> 
> With regards
> 
> Bl4ckHunter


End file.
